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The Lack of Looks The lack of looks A study on the Incel ideology of Incelism during the 2010s–2020s and its relation to historical and contemporary ideologies particularly within fa r- right milieus Master’s thesis: 45 credits Author’s name: Hugo Engholm Name of supervisor: Lars M. Andersson Semester: Spring 2021 HISTORISKA INSTITUTIONEN Abstract The Incel milieu is known for its high level of misogyny, self-hate, and hate towards society. In recent years, it has received more and more scholarly attention and one topic which is often mentioned but rarely deeply discussed is if there is such a thing as an Incel ideology. This thesis argues that such an ideology exists, the ideology of Incelism, and this thesis strives to answer the question of how Incelism is constructed, and what relationships it has to other ideologies, particularly far-right ones. To answer this question the thesis has through a qualitative content analysis employed Michael Freeden’s morphology of ideologies which states that an ideology is constructed similar to a semantic field. Freeden’s approach, together with the theoretical frameworks of Eva Illouz’s research on how love and relationships have changed since the dawn of modernity, and the field of collective victimhood, has been used to analyze discussion threads pulled from the website www.Incels.co, the at the time largest Incel-exclusive online community. The results show that the ideology of Incelism contains five core concepts labeled “Hierarchy”, “Misogyny”, “The natural”, “Alienation”, and “Direct action”, eleven adjacent concepts could also be found as well as one peripheral. What was also found was that Incelism constitutes a thin ideology, meaning that it lacks certain aspects which needs to be borrowed from other ideologies, or that it needs to be hosted within a larger ideological construct. Through comparing Incelism to other ideologies it was found that it views macro-Liberalism, -Socialism and -Conservatism as ideological foes. It is instead within the milieus of the far-right Incelism finds ideological allies, potential host ideologies, and from where it has borrowed the concepts itself lacks. The results of this thesis show that Incelism is an ideology that is vast enough to support its own ideological field of core, adjacent and peripheral concepts, but that it still lacks certain concepts. An issue which is resolved by finding support from ideologies found within far-right milieus. Acknowledgements I would like to extend many thanks and gratitude’s to all my friends and loved one’s who have helped me with moral support and help in writing this thesis, without whom this paper would not exist. I would also, against his wishes, like to thank my supervisor Lars M. Andersson for the time and effort he has put into helping me make this the best possible thesis I could have written. I am nothing without the people around me and I am eternally grateful to everyone who has helped me. Keywords: Incel, Incels, Far-right, Michael Freeden, Masculinity, Manosphere, Incelism, Ideology, Ideological analysis. 1 Abstract .......................................................................................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................................................... 1 List of figures ................................................................................................................................................ 4 1. A lack of love, but plenty of hate........................................................................................................... 5 2. Chads, Stacys, Beckys, Normies, pills and looks – Previous research on, and the context of, Incels .............................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.1. Incel? .................................................................................................................................................. 8 2.2. How can we understand how Incels think and their belief-system? ......................................... 9 2.3. How can we understand how Incels act? .................................................................................... 15 3. Incelism and its place in the ideological spheres – A thesis............................................................. 20 4. Where do we find Incels? - The sources ............................................................................................. 21 4.1. Incels.co – A Incel safe haven and source for studying Incelism ........................................... 21 5. Approaching the study of an online ideological milieu – Methodological choices and discussions ................................................................................................................................................... 26 5.1. Nethnography – A framework for employing an online source material and some ethical considerations ......................................................................................................................................... 27 5.2. Studying ideology – Michael Freeden’s morphology of ideologies ......................................... 29 6. Modern relationships and collective victimhood – Theoretical keys for understanding Incels view of the contemporary world and its creation .................................................................................. 32 6.1. Love and sex in the modern era – Capitalism, individualization and the free market of love .................................................................................................................................................................. 33 6.2. “WE’RE THE VICTIMS OF THE NEW HOLOCAUST MY FRIENDS.” – The perceived victimhood within the Incel milieu ................................................................................... 36 7. Incelism – Anger, loneliness, sadness and hate ................................................................................. 40 7.1. The construction of Incelism – Core, adjacent and peripheral concepts ............................... 40 7.1.1. Hierarchy – Looks Money Status, Just Be White, Cucks and Truecels .......................... 40 7.1.2. Misogyny – The hardcore core ............................................................................................. 49 7.1.3. Direct action – Rope, going ER and rejecting society - Taking it into your own hands .............................................................................................................................................................. 54 7.1.4. The natural – “Nothing about this is natural.” ................................................................... 57 7.1.5. Alienation – The rejected ones ............................................................................................. 60 7.2. You’ve got a friend in me? – Analyzing Incelism’s relations to historical and contemporary ideological constructs ............................................................................................................................ 64 7.2.1. The “cucked” systems – Socialism, Liberalism and Conservatism ................................. 64 7.2.2. The “based” systems – The Alt-right, Fascism and National socialism – Incelism and the far-right ........................................................................................................................................ 69 8. Conclusions – The ideology of Incelism and its relation to macro-Ideologies and the far-right ....................................................................................................................................................................... 78 8.1. The ideological field of Incelism .................................................................................................. 78 8.2. Incelism’s relation to the far-right milieu and macro-ideologies ............................................. 81 2 8.3. Final thoughts – What have we learned and what more could be learned ............................ 84 Appendix - A short lexicon of the Incel vocabulary ............................................................................. 86 Sources and literature ................................................................................................................................. 88 Unpublished sources ............................................................................................................................. 88 Literature ................................................................................................................................................. 90 Online resources and webpages ........................................................................................................... 92 3 List of figures Figure 1. The relation between Inceldom, Incel, Redpill, Blackpill and Incelism. Figure 2. Graphic example of a ideological field. Figure 3. The ideological field of Incelism. 4 1. A lack of love, but plenty of hate In May 2014 Elliot Rodger stabbed and shot six people to death before committing suicide in the community of Isla Vista, California. In April 2018 Alek Minassian killed ten and injured sixteen by driving a van into unexpecting pedestrians in Toronto, Canada. In November 2018 Scott Beierle shot two women in a Yoga studio before taking his own life in
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